Katherine Albrecht: Windows 10 Is Full Blown Electronic Tyranny

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Paul (here)
I concluded that I need to step up my efforts to change my primary PC from a systemd infected Linux distribution (Debian, in my case, presently) to something I can better trust.

There's a good chance I will use Qubes, which uses a bare metal Xen hypervisor, and places the rest, kernels and all, in lightweight Virtual Machines, that share a common terminal, keyboard and mouse interface. I could for example keep each of the following in separate VMs, unable to access each other without my explicit permission:

• Web browser sessions with my bank(s),
• Web browser sessions with my Fastmail.fm primary email service,
• my wanderings to other strange and less trustworthy corners of the web,
• my ProjectAvalon administration and backup,
• my custom full system backup utility that I've been refining for many years,
• my custom DNS server setup,
• my super secret keys for Steve Gibson's upcoming Secure Quick Reliable Login (SQRL) login service,
• my other super secret private keys (here's my public key),
• my (itsy bitsy) bitcoin wallet,
• a Windows 7 boot which supports a more recent Skype than Linux Skype (the other VMs above would be some decent Linux distro),
• another Windows 7 boot for occasional testing with Internet Explorer and Edge browsers, ...
• etc.

Obviously the above list of VMs I might use in Qubes is custom to my particular circumstances, but it might give an idea of what's practical.

I have tried going to multiple virtual machines a few times before, with VMWare, virtualbox, and kvm, but they were too cumbersome for me to become comfortable with for long term use. Qubes looks promising as the first virtual machine setup that is well enough developed and refined for such use that I can "fit it inside" my brain.

See also this recent DistroWatch review of Qubes: Isolating processes with Qubes OS 3.1.

Ilie Pandia, another Avalon admin, has long been using virtual machines for his various endeavors, but he runs on native Windows, not native Linux (or Xen). Virtual machine support is apparently more refined on Windows.

I don't recommend using multiple virtual machines unless your system has lots of RAM memory.

===

P.S. -- A Qubes presentation a couple of years ago by Joanna Rutkowska, the creator of Qubes:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CqONg8w5nkw

[ThePythonicCow]

It's not just our operating systems (and I presume our smart phones and all our Internet traffic) that are likely deeply compromised, it's the CPU (central processing unit) running inside each of our computers.

I and others have commented above that it seems to the paranoid amongst us that Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (via systemd, at least) are at risk of being deeply compromised by selected minions of the bastards in power.

It's perhaps worse than that. Joanna Rutkowska, the creator of Qubes that I mentioned in my previous post just above, has written an analysis of the The Intel Management Engine (ME) which is a computer within the computer, running inside any recent Intel CPU, even when the computer seems shutdown, if power is available. Our handheld and wireless devices often never shutdown, so long as their battery has power, so that they can "wake up" on an incoming message or call.

The Intel ME has absolute privilege over any system software running on the CPU. The Intel ME could for example do things like scan RAM memory for things that look like private crypto keys and send them out over the Internet, unbeknownst to us. The Intel ME is almost entirely hidden from us peons. It makes the infamous Clipper Chip of the 1990's look like an eight inch (8") floppy disk in comparison. The Intel ME is a security nightmare.

Here is Joanna Rutkowska's blog post describing and linking to her paper: Intel x86 considered harmful

Here is a direct link to her actual paper: Intel x86 considered harmful (pdf)

Here is the free 238 page book, that Rutkowska mentions, written by a lead Intel developer, describing what's publicly provided about this Intel Management Engine (ME): Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed -- Safeguarding the Future of Computing with Intel Embedded Security and Management Engine, By Xiaoyu Ruan (pdf)

Joanna concludes her paper with these remarks:

Finally, the Intel Management Engine (ME) technology, which is now part of
all Intel processors, stands out as very troublesome, as explained in one of the
chapters above. Sadly, and most depressing, there is no option for us users to
opt-out from having this on our computing devices, whether we want it or not.
The author considers this as probably the biggest mistake the PC industry has
got itself into she has every witnessed.

[Bob]

This is pbly a dumb question Paul, but isn't there firewalls (apps) which can be turned on to analyze any outgoing and incoming packets, and block selectively any data-dump to any 3rd party?

In task-manager in windows 7 one can turn off all the tasks that obviously send out reports to MS and others.

What's the issue with proper packet management then?

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Bob (here)
This is pbly a dumb question Paul, but isn't there firewalls (apps) which can be turned on to analyze any outgoing and incoming packets, and block selectively any data-dump to any 3rd party?

In task-manager in windows 7 one can turn off all the tasks that obviously send out reports to MS and others.

What's the issue with proper packet management then?

A bulk, unencrypted, frequently sent, data dump could likely be seen.

A covert channel, perhaps say by manipulating the CPU's random number generating instruction to make subtle (invisible if you don't know what to look for) choices of certain random encryption keys, or that perhaps was never even invoked until some magic incoming Internet packet with a "special" byte sequence, would be virtually impossible to find if you didn't know what you were looking for.

The volume of data, the variety of data formats, many encrypted, and the complexity and speed of the hardware and possible connections involved ... makes it almost certain that a sufficiently capable party, such as Intel, could hide covert intelligence gathering indefinitely.

[PathWalker]

Posted by Paul (here)

Posted by Carmody (here)
windows 10 is hardcore spyware, and gates is a hardcore globalist.

All the major Linux Distributions except a few such as Arch Linux and Devuan (a Debian fork) have adopted a Windows like piece of humongous, always changing, inscrutable, runs as SystemAdmin, system management software called Systemd. I found Windows Registry easier to deal with. Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, and Debian have all folded and joined the Systemd bandwagon.

Greetings Paul, and I follow along with your rant.
As you wisely noted the systemd challenge/controversy is not technical anymore.
The core of the controversy are:
1. Linux philosophy (the kiss principle)
2. Trust in the community process (contributors + maintainers)
3. Convergence vs divergences in the Linux community

Without getting into the technical details (technical is my comfort zone) making sense to the common reader.
Your rant is a symptom of maturing OSS (Open Source Software) community. We see few trends indicating this maturity.
1. Convergence on few dominant contemporary technologies (programming technologies, virtualization, hardware interfaces...)
2. Complexity increase exponentially with divergent technologies and backward compatibility
3. Emergence of open standards, dominating the market place

I am glad to see these trends in the OSS community.
And the main reason I am sticking my neck to stay with OSS platforms (such as Linux) solutions is:
1. I trust the OSS communities, for technical and political decisions. Better than I trust the commercial alternatives (NO Mac thank you!!!)
2. Controlled system evolution with ease of migration across competing Linux distributions (I control what is upgraded and when. Also I can easily change my Linux distributions, all my data is mounted on a pluggable disk).
3. I embrace the OSS evolution path. Mistakes will/do happen and will be replaced/corrected (as happened to many OSS projects, I can name allot).

I endorse the OSS statement "With freedom comes responsibility".
I am a geek and can easily destroy a system.
Common sheople want simplicity and conformity. Let them have Android, iOS and Windows.
If a person want to regain her/his freedom than take the responsibility, and control your computing environment.

For the uninitiated I suggest the following:
1. Use Ubuntu (as your first introductory Linux), its easy simple and very Android/Smartphone like.
2. Port all your data into a pluggable encrypted disk (not cloud, since cloud requires Internet connection, use cloud for backup)

There are many instructional videos on YouTube for many tasks.
Good luck and enjoy your freedom.
PathWalker

[ThePythonicCow]

It just got one notch even worse for Windows 7 or 8 users who don't want Windows 10.

The little [x] in the upper right corner of the pop-up to "Schedule your upgrade" has now been removed entirely. That little [x] is the usual icon on Windows to close a pop-up with no further action.

The only options are (1) upgrade now, or (2) schedule an upgrade.

If scheduled, the scheduled time cannot be changed later on, and your Windows PC will upgrade at the scheduled time, or if turned off, at the next time your PC is turned on.

Here's the screen shot that was originally posted at TheRegister:

Here's the article on TheRegister reporting this: Windows 10 nagware: You can't click X. Make a date OR ELSE – reader.

[Hervé]

If anyone gets that screen ^^^, before unplugging the internet or shutting one's computer down, one can run "taskmgr."

Running "taskmgr": Type taskmgr.exe in the "Start" ---> "Run..." box ---> "Enter"

In the "Applications" tab, see if there is anything Win-10 related that's running and if so: highlight/click on the application line then click "End Task." If there is nothing Win-10 related there, switch to the "Processes" tab and look for any Win-10 related processes and highlight/click the(se) process(es) which correspond to that window (one may need to click on "Show processes from all users" in the "Processes" tab, first) and click: "End process" to close that window and terminate its attending processes.

Download GRC's Steve Gibson's "Never 10" and run it!

Download GWX Control Panel and run it! It will show what's left to do, delete or fix.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by PathWalker (here)
3. Emergence of open standards, dominating the market place

Systemd is not, at heart, in the way that it is evolving, an open standard.

Granted, it is open source, in the sense that it is licensed under a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) compliant license.

But its content is crammed down onto the open source community from a few arrogant people, beginning with Systemd's creators, Lennart Poettering amd Kay Sievers, at a rate, and in a manner, and with an unending expansion of features and complexity, that is antithetical to the spirit of good open source software, and that is antithetical to how quality, reliable, secure software must be developed.

A couple of years ago, Linus Torvalds, the king penguin of Linux, even banned Kay Sievers from working on the Linux kernel, as described here.

This is not the first time that key Red Hat developers endeavored to encapsulate and gain control over key kernel or classic low level system code in user space, wrapping it in an additional layer of inscrutable and expanding complexity. I had a similar, smaller battle myself, with another Red Hat developer, Ulrich Drepper, the primary developer of the GNU C library (glibc) for many years. I was the primary creator of Linux kernel cpusets, which is used to manage the assignment of the memory and processors on large (thousands of CPUs in a single shared memory system image) systems to various jobs. Ulrich set forth a plan to have glibc to replace some of the actual kernel system calls for managing a systems CPUs and memory, with a more limited wrapper he was designing. I won that battle, though not before my manager called me out on the carpet for not working well with other companies, such as Red Hat in this case, in the open source community. Ulrich eventually stepped down from his role as the primary glibc maintainer, though not after a long record of pissing people off with his attitude. For the last six years, Ulrich has been a Vice President of the Technology Division, at Goldman Sachs. (What the heck ... is that a payoff to Ulrich for doing so much to sabotage glibc?)

[PathWalker]

Posted by Paul (here)

Posted by PathWalker (here)
3. Emergence of open standards, dominating the market place

Systemd is not, at heart, in the way that it is evolving, an open standard.

Granted, it is open source, in the sense that it is licensed under a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) compliant license.

But its content is crammed down onto the open source community from a few arrogant people, beginning with Systemd's creators, Lennart Poettering amd Kay Sievers, at a rate, and in a manner, and with an unending expansion of features and complexity, that is antithetical to the spirit of good open source software, and that is antithetical to how quality, reliable, secure software must be developed.

Thanks for the share, I also had my insiders experience with Red Hat employees. It was very pleasant! After all it is the person you meet.
Saying this.
I have trust in the community that eventually things will get fixed. As people move on and technology changes (as is the case with ancient system-X) the evolution is more rapid and transparent then the alternatives.
The benefits provided by systemd will never rollback, it is now a legacy requiring backup compatibility. Code is always rewritten. Even in emacs.

I am not defending systemd, just embracing the change. And endorsing OSS.
The politics are there everywhere.
Some battles we lose some we win. The OSS project have a life of its own. Hopefully to serve after we are gone.

[ThePythonicCow]

Well, well, well ... as I chuckle gleefully under my breath. All that work, for almost a year now, trying to give Windows 10 away for free, and when that wasn't working, forcing it on people for free ... and

Windows 7 remains the King of the Hill, with almost half the entire market, and with nearly three times the market share of Windows 10.

Here are recent stats, based on the identify of the operating system of users of major web sites (after excluding the big search bots), from http://netmarketshare.com/:

[KiwiElf]

And the million dollar question... WHAT is this leading to? WHY are MS so determined to get every Windows operated PC out there onto Windows 10 and WHY such a blatantly forceful approach? [somewhat of a rhetorical question I know, and I guess the answer(s) would be speculation, but there MUST be a reason, and I doubt, good for us!...]. I dread to think what this must be costing companies dependent on Windows

This recent article explains some of it (full article at link) - the comments following are well worth the read




Why Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Windows 10

Table of contents

Why Windows is dead
Why every Windows version sucks
Why Windows 10 sucks
How to partially fix Windows 10
Why Windows 10 is spyware
Busting Windows 10 myths
I've got Windows 10 preinstalled on my PC/laptop, I hate it, what should I do?
Comments

http://itvision.altervista.org/why-w...-10-sucks.html

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VL4gY-aF1PA

[seah]

My daughter came home for the summer with windows 10 on her laptop. A friend downloaded it for her thinking he was 'helping', now it's too late to remove it. I have found using google on it quite interesting. When I searched how to remove windows 10, it found no websites, and when searching on fringe subjects it is inadequate as well...first options seem to clearly be obfuscations, as if I've rendered it confused with my search.

[ThePythonicCow]

Oops - Microsoft is pissing off the Chinese too .

From Chinese Users Criticize Microsoft’s Push for Windows 10 Upgrade (Fortune Magazine):

===========

Chinese users of Microsoft products are criticising the software company’s push to get them to mandatorily upgrade their Windows operating systems, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

Posts critical of Microsoft on microblog site Weibo relating to the Windows 10 upgrade, which Microsoft users must switch to, have grown to over 1.2 million in number, it said.

“The company has abused its dominant market position and broken the market order for fair play,” Xinhua quoted Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser with the Internet Society of China, as saying.

...

Xinhua said Windows’ pop-up upgrade window does not offer a “decline” option, only an option to upgrade later, while computers with older versions of Windows would automatically start the update at a recommended time if users ignored the pop-up.

Yang Shuo, a worker at a Beijing-based public relations company, told Xinhua that the sudden update interrupted his drafting of a business plan and led to a meeting cancellation for a deal worth 3 million yuan ($457,735).

“Just because I didn’t see the pop-up reminder does not mean I agreed,” he said.

===========

[gord]

One Windows Way. Just say Gnu!

[Hervé]

Even in remotest Africa, Windows 10 nagware ruins your day: Update burns satellite link cash

3 Jun 2016 at 22:11, Iain Thomson

Lives could have been put at risk by pushy upgrade

Protectors ... Anti-poachers on patrol for the Chinko Project (Source)

When you're stuck in the middle of the Central African Republic (CAR) trying to protect the wildlife from armed poachers and the Lord's Resistance Army, then life's pretty tough. And now Microsoft has made it tougher with Windows 10 upgrades.

The Chinko Project manages roughly 17,600 square kilometres (6,795 square miles) of rainforest and savannah in the east of the CAR, near the border with South Sudan. Money is tight, and so is internet bandwidth. So the staff was more than a little displeased when one of the donated laptops the team uses began upgrading to Windows 10 automatically, pulling in gigabytes of data over a radio link.

And it's not just bandwidth bills they have to worry about.

"If a forced upgrade happened and crashed our PCs while in the middle of coordinating rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers, blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands," said one member of the team.

"I just came here recently to act as their pilot but have IT skills as well. The guy who set these PCs up didn't know how to prevent it, or set a metered connection. I am completely livid."

The Reg has been reporting a lot on the Windows 10 upgrade fiasco, so decided to investigate – and the story checks out. A team member told us the Chinko Project uses satellite communications for internet access and gets charged quite a lot for data, so the multi-gigabyte automatic upgrade was even more frustrating than for the rest of us.

"We don't need to upgrade our internet, as the limited bandwidth we have is sufficient. But we just can't abide these forced upgrades and secret downloads," one member, who asked to remain anonymous, told El Reg. "We have donated laptops with Windows 7 and 8 all over the place that I'm trying to track down and fix."

To add insult to injury, the team had only just got their satellite system up and running again after a storm tore open the roof of the building housing the setup. After taking a battering, the hardware is operational again, but is needed for far more serious things than pumping up Windows 10 usage figures.

Stopped ... One of the project's satellite-linked computers installing a Windows 10 blocker
[GWX Control Panel]

It's not easy running something like the Chinko Project. The non-profit group is trying to protect a huge amount of land containing forest and savannah elephants, as well as lions, leopard, and the beautiful Bongo antelope.

The project set up motion-activated cameras over the area to catalogue and research the surrounding wildlife, and has collected over 700,000 sightings. It works with local people to provide employment and education in its quest to preserve this unique part of Africa.

However, they are having to deal with armed ivory poachers who see the preserve as a source of quick cash, as well as cattle herders harvesting bush meat for sale. The Lord's Resistance Army, a religious cult, has also been spotted in the CAR, adding to the site's troubles.

The project has rangers who patrol the area as much as possible against well-armed and determined foes. To do this more efficiently, the project has a small aircraft that can coordinate movements and track both wildlife and incursions.

Sadly, an unexpectedly rough landing has put the aircraft out of action and the group is now trying to raise the funds to get a new one. It's vitally important to get the team airborne again, so if you want to do some good check out the fundraising site and contribute some beer vouchers if you can, and Microsoft should also hand over a big donation for inconveniencing and potentially endangering the group. ®

[KiwiElf]

Interesting that MS is DENYING automatic & forced upgrade and according to their EULA, they can't be sued. Logically, if you had Windows 10 forcefully installed, you never had a chance to read, agree or disagree to it. Last time I checked, the EULA appears BEFORE the install commences. If it were an "upgrade", then it would be 8.2 not 10. It's a complete OS replacement. Please lawyers,... wake up to this and start kicking MS's butt where it hurts?

Good article, and the comments after (on the original link) are pretty heated! Written back in March this year, compare what MS have done since, in just two short months!

Updategate: Microsoft is reportedly upgrading PCs to Windows 10 automatically

Chris Merriman

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...-automatically

MICROSOFT HAS faced its critics headlong, albeit two weeks later and not very well, with a statement to the INQUIRER clarifying its position on automatic updates to Windows 10 Professional.

We're asked to point to Microsoft article KB3080351, entitled 'How to manage Windows 10 notification and upgrade options'.

In it, Microsoft answers almost all the burning questions which we've had following the mass of complaints regarding the process, apart from, um, round about none of 'em.

The company includes details of what the upgrade arrangements are for Windows 10 Professional and how they can be overridden. However, this is all information that (to use Microsoft's own language) needed 'transparency' before the run of complaints from users who don't read every blog and Knowledge Base article like it's a holy scripture because they're, you know, doing their jobs and that.

It has the feeling of Arthur Dent's experience with the local council in the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

"It was on display at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying beware of the leopard."

It quoth, "Qualified computers and devices that are deployed in your organization and that are running Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro are eligible for the free Windows 10 upgrade offer and will be able to upgrade through Windows Update."

In other words "Professional doesn't mean Enterprise, so you'll get an upgrade".

The company previously issued a statement denying claims from users that Windows 10 has begun to install automatically onto their machines.

It emphasised that users still have control over when their update takes place. The statement reads

"We shared in late October on the Windows Blog, we are committed to making it easy for our Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers to upgrade to Windows 10. As stated in that post, we have updated the upgrade experience to make it easier for customers to schedule a time for their upgrade to take place," a Microsoft spokesperson told the INQUIRER.

"Customers continue to be fully in control of their devices, and can choose to not install the Windows 10 upgrade or remove the upgrade from Windows Update (WU) by changing the WU settings."

The blog in question says, "Early next year, we expect to be re-categorizing Windows 10 as a "Recommended Update". Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device.

"Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don't love it."

Customers are, however, still feeling that for whatever reason, they are not in control over the process, claiming that it has started updating automatically. Whether that is because the process has gone wrong, or because the wording of the update has been phrased to make it sound inevitable is debatable and that part we've had no clear explanation of.

This is already happening with the "Upgrade Now" and "Upgrade Tonight" options which don't have a clear explanation of how to opt out. So not "transparent" at all then. Microsoft may choose to argue that they are giving you the option, however obtusely it is phrased.

More worrying, however, is the fact that all this still fails to engage with the hundreds of users who claim that their update has started automatically and is a problem.

A discussion on Reddit first claimed that users of Windows 7 Professional, which already had a payload of nagware for Internet Explorer dumped on it last Patch Tuesday, have seen their machines updating without any user intervention at all.

"This came up on all of our work computers. I told IT. They basically said oh f**k," said one Redditor.

The action led to comments where life was actually being put at risk by the unilateral action: "I needed to set up my department's bronchoscopy cart quickly for someone with some sick lungs. I **** you not, when I turned on the computer it had to do a Windows update."

Microsoft had promised to ramp up its efforts to enforce updates last year within Windows Update as it pushes to meet its target of over two billion devices running Windows 10 by 2017.

However, the company has come under increasing scrutiny for the heavy-handed approach to the process, which is having disastrous consequences for some.

"It broke my dad's Bootcamp configuration for OS X. Windows 10 loves to switch to using UEFI and can break other boot loaders."

The problem seems to be affecting all manner of organisations.

"We've been getting calls trickling in all week from doctor's offices, dental practices, B&Bs, and roofing companies - among others - that have been hit by this and it's a ****ing mess.

"In some cases the upgrade went OK and the user is just really confused. In others Windows 10 is asking for a login password the user set years ago and hasn't used since, that was fun. In still another it's screwed up access to their shared folders.

"I'm >this < close to telling the techs to disable automatic updates completely for all business customers."

Others have likened the experience to being violated.

"It happened to me last week. I'm still furious. It feels like someone broke into my house, installed spyware on my computer and rendered my favorite applications useless. **** you Microsoft. **** you to hell."

The problem reportedly affected even system administrators who had previously blocked the upgrade as Microsoft appears to have reclassified it, meaning that it has to be blocked again to avoid this happening.

In the interest of balance, an Australian reader wrote to us overnight with an angry retort exclaiming that they had no problem whatsoever with the upgrade process and that we ought to mention it. So now we have. It's not affecting everyone. But we knew that.

Even if this turns out to be an accident, this is the second one since Windows 10 was launched and the company has to make sure that there isn't a third. Next time it could be a life-support machine. An extreme example, and we realise that the chances of a life support machine being left this vulnerable are tiny. But the point remains.

This level of power without responsibility will eventually end up killing somebody.

PS - Just had a distraught friend call, Windows 10 forcefully installed itself onto her computer which has turned it into a brick. I suggested she do the rollback (she's scared that will make it worse), and turn Windows Update OFF and get one of the previously mentioned utilities to get rid of it. She is pissed off big time (all her work-related stuff is gone - she's now considering getting a Mac...)

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Paul (here)
The key is (or was?) that Arch supports (ed?) removing Systemd: http://systemd-free.org/

These instructions for removing Systemd from an Arch installation work. I wouldn't recommend Arch, or these instructions for someone who is not fairly experienced in such things. But for those who are experienced, the instructions, and the Arch distribution (now running on a system near me) could be well worth considering.

[KiwiElf]

The "thing" is though, that most computer users just want to plug it in and it goes, no problems. If Windows was a car, would you keep it or demand a full refund and buy something else?

That was and is Apple's basic philosophy. You shouldn't have to "get under the bonnet and tune the damned thing up" every other week!

[KiwiElf]

Need more convincing to go to Mac?

http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/mac...eview-3591944/

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10 compared

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10 - Which is best: Mac OS X or Windows 10 UPDATED
Who’s better, who’s best? We all have our preferences but does the all-new Windows 10 release have enough features to knock Yosemite off its perch?

by Keir Thomas | 14 Aug 15

Free (Yosemite); Windows 10: Free upgrade for Windows 7/8/8.1 home users within upgrade period; corporate users and/or users of Windows Enterprise should consult their vendors

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10 compared

It's been a rough few years for Microsoft but Windows 10, which was released on 29 July 2015, has seen a resurgence of interest. It’s feels like the 1990s all over again as PC users coo with delight at what appears to be a genuinely usable version of Windows. But while PC users might be thrilled, how does Microsoft’s latest offering compare to OS X Yosemite?

The similarities lie in more than the version number. In fact, Windows X – sorry, that should be Windows 10 – is spookily similar to OS X in many key areas.

Read our OS X Yosemite review Plus: Doesn't Windows 10 sound rather like OS X to you...

And here’s what is coming in the next version of OS X and our preview of OS X El Capitan

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Price

Apple has been giving OS X away for free since it introduced Mavericks in 2013. Just open the App Store and click Updates, or click Apple > Software Updates, and you can upgrade for zero cost if you haven’t already. If you buy a new Mac then you get all the iWork and iLife apps free too.

Well, wouldn’t you know but Windows 10 is a completely free upgrade too! There are conditions. This is Microsoft, after all. You need to be an existing Windows 8/8.1, Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 7 user (sorry Vista users!) and you also need to be relatively quick because you’ve only a year in which to upgrade after the “Get Windows 10” app first appeared uninvited on your system. (It’s not yet clear what happens once the year is up but Microsoft moots a $110 fee in the upgrade app.) The free upgrade doesn’t stretch to corporate users who are covered by volume licensing.

How get Windows 10 free

Windows 10 is free for home users running Win7/8/8.1, but only for a limited period while Microsoft’s feeling generous

Windows 10 deprecates quite a few features and sometimes asks for cash if you want them back. You might have to pay £11.59 for Windows DVD Player, for example, although this is free for some Windows 7 users for an unspecified “limited time” – although tread carefully because early reports say the app is both basic and might not even work correctly.

Even the Windows stalwart de-stressing tools Minesweeper and Solitaire now feature in-app purchases and must be installed manually via the Windows Store.

Any thoughts Microsoft turned a new leaf and become generous like Apple are dashed pretty quickly.

If you want to play DVDs then you might need to hand over cash for the Windows DVD Player app

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Desktop

Yosemite’s desktop was visually overhauled with a new flat look but functionally is mostly identical to earlier releases of OS X. You get the Dock, from which you can launch apps, or open files and folders via Stacks. Mission Control lets you see what apps and documents are open, and switch between them via a graphical representation of their program windows as thumbnails. Spaces lets you switch between apps running in full-screen mode and also create or switch to additional desktops.

OS X Yosemite’s desktop is simple, elegant, functional and very pretty – the perfect workspace

Apple was also clever enough to know that it’s not yet time – if there ever will be a time – when desktop and mobile can be merged into one sticky whole.

Windows 8’s basic fault was not understanding this, of course, and for desktop users Windows 10 apologises by restoring the Start menu, which was mostly banished from Windows 8. We don’t wave goodbye to Windows 8’s Live Tiles because the new Start menu is a hybrid. At the left is the familiar listing of features and apps – it’s here you’ll click the Power link to shutdown or suspend, for example, or access a list of your installed apps – while at the right are Live Tiles similar to those in Windows 8. This makes the desktop Start menu now firmly landscape in orientation, rather than vertical, but this makes sense considering most laptop and desktop screens are widescreen nowadays.

Windows 10’s Start menu is a mishmash of the traditional and the new Windows 8 Live Tiles. It works surprisingly well

Windows 10 doesn’t abandon the Metro-style apps that came with Windows 8, such as News, Money, Sports and Weather. These continue to eschew ribbons, icon bars or menus in favour of a sparse web-page-styled approach but they do run in program windows when Windows 10 is used in the default desktop mode. It’s still a little jarring that some apps have toolbars and/or menus, and others don’t, but it’s less irksome than you might think. It’s sacrilege compared to the elegant homogeneity that defines the OS X experience but, hey, Windows users aren’t even aware of such things are possible.

If you just can’t live without the everything-fullscreen-all-the-time approach of Windows 8 switch to Tablet Mode – although this means the Start menu and all apps, including traditional desktop apps like Office, fill the screen. In fact, Windows 10 includes Continuum, which makes switching between desktop and tablet modes automatic for those who use hybrid devices that feature detachable keyboards. This simply isn’t an issue for Apple laptops, of course – and hopefully never will be. If you want a tablet then get an iPad. If you want a laptop then get a MacBook. It’s super simple.

Windows tablet mode

If you really liked the Windows 8 fullscreen approach you can switch to Tablet Mode, and Windows Continuum can do this automatically for laptops with detachable keyboards

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Notifications

Significantly boosted in Yosemite, the Notification Area lets your apps and OS X tell you important stuff, and also provides a home for widgets that show information like weather, or that let you perform quick and dirty tasks like calculate sums. Third party apps can add in their own useful widgets too. You can open Notification Area by clicking the icon at the top right of the desktop, or swiping in on a trackpad from the right-hand side with two fingers, but it otherwise keeps out of the way.

Notifications on a Mac

Notification Area on Yosemite provides widgets for quick functionality as well as a way of telling you about recent events and emails

Surprise, surprise – Windows 10’s Action Centre is almost identical to Notification Area, although is named after a similar feature on the older Windows Phone OS. You open Action Centre on the desktop by clicking an icon at the bottom right and, like Notification Area, it slides in from the right of the screen. New email notifications appear here, for example, but in reality the equivalent functionality of OS X’s Notification Area is spread across both the Action Centre and the new Start menu’s Live Tiles. These are “Live” because most update to show relevant information -- the Weather tile shows current conditions, for example. Provided its set to Wide or Large mode (you can choose by right-clicking it), the Mail Live Tile will list your latest emails – even though these are also listed in the Action Centre. True, the Action Centre’s listing is longer and more detailed, but you may find yourself bouncing between two desktop features that logically and easily could be combined into one – as Apple demonstrates.

Do Not Disturb on OS X and iOS lets you turn off notifications for a set period, controlled in System Preferences on a Mac. This too has been half-inched for Windows 10, with the equivalent feature within Action Centre being Quiet Hours.

Action Centre on Windows

It’s fair to call Action Centre a rip-off of Notification Area, and it even includes a clone of Do Not Disturb in the form of Quiet Hours

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Window organisation

Yosemite firms-up Apple’s goal for apps to run either as traditional program windows or full-screen. It does this by switching the maximise button (the green blob at the top left of windows) to a full-screen option. Working full-screen in apps courtesy of Mission Control and Spaces makes life significantly easier on smaller screens such as those on MacBooks.

As mentioned, Windows 10 splits out full-screen working to a dedicated tablet mode that you can switch on and off – a little irksome if you use a laptop with a small screen, although apps can still be maximised to occupy most of the desktop in the same way that’s been possible for a few decades now.

But more signs of Microsoft’s (ahem) homage to OS X Yosemite can be found in Windows 10’s new Task view – named with a typical lack of imagination. This looks, feels and smells like Mission Control, even allowing you to create new desktop spaces if you’re switched to Desktop Mode. In Tablet Mode it merely lets you switch between fullscreen apps. Task view replaces the ages-old Alt+Tab switcher, so forms a central part of the Windows 10 experience.

WIndows 10 Taskview

Look familiar? Task View is basically Mission Control, which has been a key part of OS X for years. It’s more basic although still allows access to additional desktop spaces

Windows 7 introduced the Snap window organisation tool, which lets you click and drag windows to the top or side of the screen in order to arrange them neatly into full-screen or half-screen sizes. Windows 10 enhances this with a little of the Task view magic – bash a window into the left of the screen, for example, and it’ll be arranged so it fills half the screen while the right will fill with a Mission Control-like thumbnail listing of windows. Selecting any will then fill the remainder of the screen.

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Search

The Spotlight search tool is one of OS X’s greatest features. As Steve Jobs pointed out when he introduced it back in 2004, it makes the concept of a file system redundant and provides access to all types of data. You can use Spotlight to open files, start apps, search emails, and much more. In Yosemite it’s also been expanded to perform ultra-rapid web, Wikipedia, App Store, and map searches. Use Spotlight right and it will form the heart of your Mac experience.

Spotlight on a Mac

Spotlight is central to the OS X experience in that it can find files, provide dictionary look-ups, and much more

It’s with search that Microsoft has arguably leapfrogged OS X Yosemite because Windows 10 brings Cortana to the desktop. This is Microsoft’s Siri-a-like personal assistant that was introduced to mobile devices with the Windows 8.1 update. A new search field declaring the user should “Ask me anything” appears to the right of the Start button, and here you can type your query: “What’s the weather going to be tomorrow”, for example, or “What’s the most recent Arsenal score”. If you’ve a microphone plugged-in then you can just say “Hey Cortana” and start speaking – not entirely unlike saying “Hey Siri” when your iPhone or iPad is charging.

Cortana arguably isn’t as clever or elegant as Siri, and can spend a lot of time “thinking” about what you ask. More often than not you’ll be booted off to a Bing web search in any event. The Notebook feature lets you directly inform Cortana about yourself, which is a nice touch, but we’re not convinced personal assistants need to be instructed in this way. We’d rather they just learned from our existing queries.

Cortana is Microsoft’s clone of Siri and it arrives on Windows 10 in the form of a search field alongside the Start button

However, the inclusion of Cortana is a win for Microsoft. We remain baffled as to why Apple hasn’t yet ported Siri to OS X. It’s such an obvious trick to integrate it with Spotlight. Read: Siri for Mac launch date
OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Continuity features

While its operating systems are unique, Apple offers a number of features that unify both OS X and iOS. Apple has unified these features underneath the banner of Continuity and they include Airdrop, which is significantly boosted in Yosemite to let you share files between not just desktop computers, but also iOS devices.

Continuity on OS X lets you make calls or send genuine SMS via your iPhone, and it works extremely well

Windows 10 simply has nothing similar, which is somewhat crazy considering that the Windows 10 “Core” runs on all devices.

You have been able to send SMS messages to other iCloud users on your Mac since Mavericks in 2013, but now you can text anyone from your Mac, regardless of what smartphone they are using. Also new in Yosemite is the ability to make and receive calls on your Mac using your iPhone number (your iPhone just needs to be nearby with Bluetooth turned on).

Again, there’s nothing in Windows 10 that even comes close to this level of integration. The nearest equivalent is IP-based messaging services like Skype. If you're sending an SMS and both parties use Skype, Windows 10 will automatically flip to Skype so you can have a real-time conversation, whether that's continuing to use IM, or switching to a voice or video call.
OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Apps

Apple travelled more than a few steps down the path of unifying work patterns across iOS devices and Macs in Yosemite. Another new Continuity feature lets apps share data instantly between OS X and iOS. Thanks to Handoff, you can start an email on your iPad and you can pick it up instantly on your Mac, and vice versa. While there are separate versions of, for example, Apple's iWork apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, for each device, all documents are kept in sync so that you can easily pick up from where you left off on one device and continue working on another. Since Yosemite all documents can be stored on iCloud Drive and accessed on any device.

Because it's the same operating system across all devices, Universal Apps designed for Windows 10 will work with phones, small tablets and PCs. If you are using one Windows device you should find that apps look and feel the same across different devices and screen sizes. Data will be saved and will sync automatically via Microsoft's OneDrive. Full Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook will be included on phones - complete with the familiar Office Ribbon. The full Word engine will be built into the email app so you can format text just as you would in a document. A recent documents list will be available to all Windows 10 devices.

Many apps are getting an overhaul for Windows 10. For example, the Photos app has been improved so you'll see the same photo stream across your Windows 10 devices. This sounds a lot like the soon to launch iCloud Photo Library, currently in beta which will allow you to access all your photos from any of your Apple devices, and even a non Apple device via iCloud on the web.

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: App Store

Apple introduced the App Store concept to the world and it was immediately stolen by Google and Microsoft. Still, Apple’s used to that kind of thing. However, at least Microsoft is showing some initiative because Windows 10 unifies the Windows Store across all devices. Desktop and mobile versions of Windows 10 share APIs making it easy for developers to create a single app that’ll work on tablets and desktop computers. For users this means simplicity and perhaps the ability to buy an app once and use it everywhere.

In contrast, the iOS App Store and its Mac brother are entirely separate affairs. While there would be little sense in users running most iOS apps on OS X, and it’d be preposterous to suggest OS X apps should work on iOS, the ability to play iOS games on a Mac would certainly be welcome. This is technically feasible using existing software provided to developers so wouldn’t take a lot of adaptation to be integrated into a future release of OS X.

So, with its improved app store, Windows 10 scores a point over Yosemite!

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Gaming & gimmicks

Windows 10 brings Xbox Live to the desktop. Players will also be able to play Xbox One games on their PC by streaming them directly from their console to their Windows 10 tablet or PC within their home. Windows 10 gamers will be able to play against people on their Xbox One in multiplayer games. Game recording is also built into Windows 10 for Windows games.

Xbox in Windows 10

Microsoft cleverly extends its Xbox gaming empire onto Windows 10, allowing you to play games from your console on your PC screen

Microsoft is also working on an augmented reality system called HoloLens, using a headset a little like Google Glass. Windows 10 will be the first holographic computing platform and a set of APIs will mean developers can create holographic experiences in the real world. Apparently HoloLens lets you interact with 'holograms' that you see. You could use HoloLens to play games in a virtual 3D environment.

Outside of basic puzzlers, OS X has never been much of a gaming platform. The introduction of Steam is changing this slowly but Apple’s hardly pushing hard here. Additionally, so far modern-era Apple has steered clear of gimmicks like virtual reality headsets. We’ve got to say that we’re in no rush for this state of affairs to change.

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: iCloud vs OneDrive

Both iCloud and OneDrive offer the ability to sync files and settings via a magical shared folder whose contents are automatically duplicated on each of your computers and devices. However, OneDrive bears more resemblance to DropBox. Given iCloud’s issues – some of which are very serious – we have to say this mimicry is no bad thing. OneDrive is hard-coded into Windows 10, just like iCloud is in Yosemite and El Capitan, in that both appear in Finder/File Explorer.

iCloud is OS X’s cloud storage option and it just about works, although there remain quite a few usability hurdles that Microsoft’s OneDrive has already leaped over

OneDrive also provides remote access to ALL files on a user’s hard disk – including network shares if they’re mapped to drive letters. This a little like Back To My Mac on OS X, although much easier to setup because file transfer is handled via OneDrive rather than via a complicated port mapping setup that frequently doesn’t work. We have to say that OneDrive wins here again.

Any sensible person on either OS X or OneDrive will use Dropbox instead. But while OneDrive is far from innovative, we have to say it’s a more solid offering than iCloud – at least right now. It’s also quite a lot cheaper to buy space.

While most sensible people will simply use Dropbox, OneDrive is a compelling clone that’s significantly cheaper than iCloud – and it’s built into Windows 10’s File Explorer

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Internet and PIM tools

The Safari browser gained much in Yosemite, including a whole new look providing more space for browser tabs and a significant speed boost. Safari’s developers have been focussing on features over the last few years, adding useful tools such as Reading List for offline browsing, and Shared Links for keeping up to date with your favourite sites and tweeted links. In Yosemite Mail gained the ability to annotate pictures and diagrams – a genuinely useful quick tool – while AirDrop takes care of large attachments that some mail providers balk at. Calendar gained the ability for users to input natural language instructions: “Appointment at 2pm next Wednesday with John”, for example.

Calendar for Mac

Calendar is built into OS X and in Yosemite brings with it the ability to type natural language queries in order to create new appointments

Windows 10 brings with it two built-in browsers. There’s Internet Explorer if you’re a masochist, or over the age of 70, although the system defaults to Edge. This was formerly known as Project Spartan, which tells us a lot about its intentions. The hated ActiveX has gone forever, for example, although Microsoft being Microsoft means there’s already a slew of bolted-on features – the ability to annotate web pages, for example, and reading view akin to Safari’s Reading List. Cortana is also built-in.

Microsoft’s new Edge browser promises faster browsing speeds and finally kills off the hated ActiveX

Windows Mail and Calendar are Metro-style apps that do the job but are much more basic than the OS X equivalents. Even the ancient Windows Express looks sophisticated in comparison. However, most people using Windows will arguably be using Outlook. Microsoft Office available for a bargain price to students, for example, while corporate and home office desktops can’t really live without it. If Windows + Office are indeed a pony and trap arrangement then all Microsoft’s really done is made the pony free of charge but continued to charge a hefty subscription fee for the trap in the form of Office 365.
OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Mobile integration

Where Apple has always maintained that two separate operating systems are necessary: one for mobile devices, one for computing, Windows 10 will run on PCs, smartphones, tablets and even Xbox One. There will no longer be a separate version of Windows for phones. The benefit of this strategy is that it means the same apps will be available on all Windows 10 devices.

Of course Apple's philosophy, initially outlined by Steve Jobs prior to that famous quote about not using styluses, is that an operating system that relies on mouse input isn't suitable for use on a mobile phone where the finger or thumb becomes the means of input (if you resort to using a stylus on the phone you have failed).

How is Microsoft addressing this issue? Continuum Mode isn’t Microsoft’s answer to Continuity, it’s Microsoft’s answer to the dilemma of what happens when you disconnect the tablet part of the Surface from its base. The Windows OS will detect the loss of a keyboard or mouse and switch to the tablet (touch) usage modes.

That said, Microsoft is tailoring the OS to devices 8in and above, with a slightly different version for Windows phones and small screen tablets. This 'mobile' version of Windows 10 isn’t a successor to Windows Phone 8, it’s still the same OS as runs on PCs, however there are some tweaks. The mobile version includes the ability to float the keyboard around the screen.

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Internet Browser

The Safari browser gained much in Yosemite, including a whole new look providing more space for browser tabs and a significant speed boost. Safari’s developers have been focussing on features over the last few years, adding useful tools such as Reading List for offline browsing, and Shared Links for keeping up to date with your favourite sites and tweeted links. In Yosemite Mail gained the ability to annotate pictures and diagrams – a genuinely useful quick tool.

What can we say about Internet Explorer that hasn’t already been said? The user interface is still clumsy, with browser tabs crammed into the top right of the screen alongside the address bar. In terms of features it’s straight out of the previous century. Back in 2014 Microsoft was boasting a litany of under-the-hood improvements including HTTP2, but this is like a car manufacturer boasting their engines have new and improved sparkplugs.

However, in the consumer preview we learned more about Microsoft's new Window's 10 browser, code named 'Project Spartan'. Spartan is to be Microsoft’s new web browser, shipping with Windows 10. Built with interoperability in mind, according to Microsoft, Spartan has a new rendering engine that's "compatible with today's web".

It has a new look and feel, and it has three significant features, according to Microsoft. These include a reading mode and the ability to annotate with a keyboard, pen or a finger before you share an article. There's also integration with Cortana, so that when you're on a web page for a restaurant Cortana can make a booking. Spartan lets you create a reading list that shows up on all your devices, this content is then available to read offline, so it won't matter if you have no internet connection. Spartan’s reading mode also supports PDFs natively.

OS X Yosemite vs Windows 10: Mail

Apple's Mail offered new features in Yosemite including Mail Drop, which takes the hassle out of sending large files because Apple looks after the upload and download of files over 5MB so that you don't need to rush off to DropBox or similar in order to send emails without crashing the server, or that of your recipient.

The default (and only) email app on Windows 10 is Mail, a tablet app. This is basic. Forget about creating mail rules, for example. Even the ancient Windows Express looks sophisticated in comparison. Anybody who receives more than a few messages a day will be crying out for the likes of Outlook, which comes as part of Office 365. It’s not cynical to suggest that this is all part of Microsoft’s plan, of course.

Windows Mail is basic and no use for those who receive more than a handful of messages a day
Verdict: Windows 10 versus Yosemite

The bare truth of the matter is that Windows 10 steals the best bits from Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Mac OS X.

Such an approach isn’t guaranteed to work, of course, and could end-up an inelegant mishmash. If Microsoft deserves any kind of praise it’s that, at the end of the day, Windows 10 is a genuinely useful operating system. It really does feel like Microsoft’s got its groove back.

Is there anything that Apple can learn from Windows 10? Aside from integrating Siri, which we suspect Apple is avoiding for fear or being accused of prematurely merging mobile and desktop, the answer has to be a resounding no. Windows 10 just isn’t innovative.

Nor will Windows 10 make any OS X user in their right mind more likely to switch. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why we won’t be using Windows any time soon. Installation is as much of a nightmare as it always has been, for example. Who wants to spend hours trying to track down hardware drivers? Then there’s the fact that Windows 10 still uses NTFS disk technology, more than a decade after both OS X and Linux switched to the more fault-tolerant journalled file systems. If your laptop dies without hibernating, for example, then the use of NTFS means there’s still the risk of lost data, and still a lengthy start-up scan phase to try and repair things. This is despite the fact that Microsoft has ReFS is ready and waiting to be a swap-in.

Then there’s the weird error messages that you only find in Microsoft products, or the usual Microsoft bugs that recently meant an system update (which are now automated by the way) meant that some PCs entered an endless reboot cycle. It’s all incredibly tiresome, especially for those who’ve seen this kind of thing countless times before. Why can’t Microsoft ever just get a grip?

We also have a comparison preview of El Capitan and Windows 10 here
OUR VERDICT

Mac OS X remains so far out in front of Windows in terms of innovation and features that Microsoft may never close the gap. But one thing Microsoft knows well is that Windows only has to be good enough for most users. Forget about elegance. Forget about design. Windows just has to work. And version 10 definitely ticks this box.

[Hughe]

Avoid Linux distribution that uses systemd as default service manager such as Ubuntu. Unfortunately there are few Linux distributions that provide systemd as an option: Gentoo, Devuan, Slackware.

systemd is maintained, has developed by programmers under coporates' paycheck, notoriously the Red Hat.
It exceeded half million lines of code. systemd developers keep saying it makes Linux user friendly like Windows. Can you believe it?
To me, systemd is a result of corporate take over Linux.

In 2015, Debian adapted systemd blatantly whatever motives behind it. Many hackers and hard-core users left Debian because systemd directly conflicts against FOSS policy. Most Linux users do not aware the potential implication of systemd. I personally run Devuan (Debian without systemd).

The block diagram of systemd components.


https://lists.dns-oarc.net/pipermail...ne/014964.html

> * systemd-resolved now implements RFC5452 to improve resilience against
> cache poisoning. Additionally, source port randomization is enabled
> by default to further protect against DNS spoofing attacks.

systemd-resolved requires a forwarder. It is not a full DNS recursive
server. So source port randomization is pretty useless as you are most
likely just doing DNS on the local network.

Also, "improve resilience against cache poisoning" is quite the weasel
wording. Especially since it trusts faster answers over slower ones over
different interfaces. The design is still horribly broken.

At devconf, the systemd people described the system to us. Things might
have changed since then and we should verify that. With that, let me
mention what I remember:

- It uses nsswitch to basically take over gethostbyname*() and
getaddrinfo(). This means any software using a DNS library like ldns,
unbound, bind, knot, etc bypasses this system and gets an inconsistent
DNS view from the rest of the system. It explictely does not support
those kind of applications. Due to its issues below, this is a problem
for applications insisting on DNSSEC answers (eg postfix). It does not
supply a "local DNS server" that those dns libraries could use to get
a consistent view.

- it fudges with /etc/resolv.conf, but it does not provide a DNS server.
So it cannot put 127.0.0.1 in resolv.conf. This means ANY application
using /etc/resolv.conf that does not use glibc is going to go around
systemd-resolvd. Yet systemd-resolvd messes with resolv.conf.

- The process turns a request for binary DNS data into into XML, feeds it
into the sytemd/dus ecosystem, which turns it into binary DNS to send
it to the forwarder. The binary DNS answer then gets turned into XML
goes through systemd/dbus, then is turned back into binary DNS to feed
back into glibc. Apart from errors in this process, like last year's
CVE on cache poisoning attacks, this means the systemd people need to
very actively maintain their code whenever a new feature or RRTYPE is
added to the DNS protocol. Maintenance and bugfixes is not systemd's
strong point. This architecture is overly complex and unneccessary.

- It won't work well with applications that have their own DNS code
itside. Such as browsers. This becomes worse when you think about
browsers supporting draft-shore-tls-dnssec-chain-extension.

- It is yet another program/daemon that runs races with other software
in controlling /etc/resolv.conf. Eg VPN software adding nameservers.

- There is no option to become a full recursive DNS server. It depends
on a forwarder being obtained via DHCP. This means any broken
forwarder leads to a broken setup. eg an upstream that strips DNSSEC.

- It accepts DNS forwarders for all its interfaces. That means if you
are on wifi and 3g, or ethernet and wifi, you have more than one
DNS server from logically different networks. With no way of
guaranteeing which logical network you asking.

- It sends out a DNS queries over all its obtained DNS servers all the
time. This means DNS queries for split-DNS view resources leak all
over the internet.

- It accepts the first valid answer. This could be an unsigned answer.
This means a local attacker (eg wifi hotspot) has an advantage over
the actual real DNS forwarders.

- It prefers an answer over an NXDOMAIN as workaround for the above.
So if some A record does not exist, the NXDOMAIN is ignored in
favour of a forged, or rogue wildcard type, answer.

- It does not implement RFC-5011 properly. It might remove trusted keys
upon seeing the revoke bit instead of waiting the time period
specified in RFC-5011.

- I believe it does not support DNS-over-TLS

- I _believe_ it does not support network changes that requre a cache
flush, for instance a VPN network with an internal *.corp.company.com
whose entries need to be removed from the cache when the network is
lost.

- I _believe_ it does not handle trust anchors linked to DNS nameserver
IP addreses. Needed for DHCP servers relaying multiple domain names
for resolving and VPN situations like draft-pauly-ipsecme-split-dns-01

- I _believe_ it will not able to reconfigure forwarders on the fly.